Inner trim panel for a vehicle door, corresponding door, and method for mounting the door

ABSTRACT

This panel is provided on its face turned towards the inside of the door with means for the fastening and preassembly on this panel of internal elements (8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) of the door, in particular window lift (8), lock (12), slide (11) for guiding and locking the window in the lowered position, and inside opening control (13), and these elements are provided with means for fastening to a panel (2) forming a structure inside the door. This arrangement considerably simplifies the structure of the door by eliminating an internal plate supporting the elements, while at the same time enabling the trim panel (7) to be disassembled easily, and consequently servicing to be carried out on the various elements.

The subject of the present invention is an inner trim panel for avehicle door, the vehicle door equipped with this panel and a method formounting this door.

Vehicle doors are known in which the various internal elements (windowlift, lock, linkage, slide for guiding the lower part of the window,inside opening control . . . ) are assembled through the panel forming astructure inside the door and are then covered internally with a trimpanel.

So-called cassette doors are also known in which the variousabovementioned elements are preassembled on a sheet-metal plate whichpartially closes again the opening made in the inner panel. Thepositioning of the inner trim panel ensures the completion of the doorby covering this plate.

The object of the invention is to avoid the use of an inner plate whilstat the same time preserving the preassembly of the various elements.

According to the invention, the trim panel is provided, on its faceturned towards the inside of the door, with means for the fastening andpreassembly on this panel of internal elements of the door, inparticular window lift, lock, slide for guiding the window into thelowered position, inside opening control, and these elements areprovided with means for fastening to the panel forming a structureinside the door.

The vehicle door thus formed is characterized in that the said elementsare fastened, on the one hand, to that face of the trim panel turnedtowards the inner panel and, on the other hand, to the said inner panelafter mounting, which inner panel and trim panel are provided withfastening means for the said elements.

This arrangement therefore considerably simplifies the structure of thedoor and very substantially reduces its cost price by eliminating theabovementioned inner plate. Furthermore, servicing of one or other ofthe elements or mechanisms inside the door is made particularly easysince it is sufficient to take off just the trim panel, by removing itslink with the various elements which, moreover, remain fastened to theinner panel of the door.

Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge during thedescription which follows, made with reference to the attached drawingswhich illustrate, by way of non-limiting example, one of itsembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle door without its inner trimpanel but having an inner panel adapted so as to enable elements ormechanisms of the door to be fastened therein.

FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view of an embodiment of the trim panelof the door and of a certain number of elements which may be fastenedtherein.

FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view of the door in FIG. 1 and of theinner trim panel of FIG. 2 on which the various elements have beenpreassembled.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view, on a larger scale, of the lockof the door, of its opening handle, of the lock cylinder and of the linkmembers between these various elements.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the trim panel from inside the vehicle.

In FIG. 1, a motor vehicle door 1 can be seen, comprising a panel 2forming an internal structure, provided with various means 3a-3b, 3c-3d,4, 5, 6 arranged so as to enable a certain number of elements ormechanisms inside the door 1 to be fastened onto this inner panel 2.

The means 3a-3b and 3c-3d may, as shown, be lugs which have been cut inthe metal sheet of the inner panel 2 and pierced with threaded holes forreceiving screws, not shown. The same applies for the fastening points4, 5 and 6 whose role will be explained hereinbelow.

The door 1 is completed on the inside by a trim panel 7, which can beseen, in particular, in FIGS. 2 and 3 and which is provided, on its face7a turned towards the inside of the door 1, with means for the fasteningand preassembly of internal elements of the door. These elements ormechanisms may, in particular, be a window lift 8, for example of thetype with swinging arms 9, a rear slide 11, known per se and whichserves to guide the window into the lowered position, a lock 12, aninside opening control 13, 15 and a rod 14 for latching and unlatchingthe lock 12.

The trim panel 7 is pierced with an opening 16 for introducing theinside opening control 13, and equipped with a clip 17 for clipping ontoand securing the rod 15, arranged on its inner face 7a. Also pierced inthe panel 7 are holes 18 intended to receive members for fastening theslide 11 to the panel 7, such as screws passing through threaded holes11b of two tabs 11a of this slide, and two holes 19 for screws, notshown, for fastening the window lift 8 to the panel 7, passing throughthreaded holes 21 of the plate 22 of the window lift 8.

In a complementary manner, the tabs 11a are pierced with threaded holes23, intended to interact with the holes 5 and 6 of the surround of thepanel 2. These holes are positioned so as to face the holes 23 when thetrim panel 7 on which the various elements 8, 11, 13, 14, 15 have beenpreassembled is to be fixed onto the inner panel 2. Lastly, two pairs ofholes 24, 25, positioned in order to face corresponding holes 26arranged at the opposite ends of the plate 22 of the window lift 8, arepierced in the trim panel 7 on either side of the holes 19. The holes3a, 3b of the inner panel 2 are positioned in order to face the holes 26and 19, and the same applies for the holes 3c, 3d and the holes 26, 25.Screws may thus pass successively through the holes 19, 26, 3c, 3d, onthe one hand, and the holes 25, 26, 3a and 3b, on the other hand, so asto fix the window lift 8 to the inner door panel 2 after it has beenpreassembled with the trim panel 7.

In a similar manner, a hole capable of receiving a screw, not shown,which may be screwed into the corresponding threaded hole 4 of the doorpanel 2, is pierced in the inside opening control 13.

The various elements shown 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 may, of course, besupplemented by other mechanisms and their fixing to the panel 7 may beeffected by any known means other than screws, for example by elasticfasteners.

The lock 12 is equipped with two tongues 12a, 12b and with a cylinder28, while the opening handle 29 has a lever 31. The downward tilting ofthe latter (double arrow in FIG. 4) actuates the upper tongue 12a inorder to permit the opening of the door, while the rotation of thecylinder 28 controls the displacement of the lower tongue 12b,introduced between two lugs 28a of the cylinder 28, in order to latch orunlatch the lock 12.

The method which has just been described for mounting the door iscarried out as follows.

The various elements 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 etc are first premounted onthe trim panel 7 by introducing the inside control 13 into the opening16, positioning the rod 15 in the elastic clip 17, and screwing in thewindow lift 8 with screws fixing the trim panel 7 through the holes 19,and the threaded holes 21, and lastly the slide 11 by screwing thescrews into the holes 18 and the threaded holes 11b. The lock 12 is inthis case fixed to the slide 11 via an auxiliary tab, not shown.

The unit formed in this way is then mounted on the door by fixing thepanel 7 onto the panel 2 by any known means, not shown, for exampleelastic fasteners, adhesive bonding, screwing . . . Lastly, the elements8, 11, 13 are fixed to the inner panel 2 by screws, as described above,passing through the holes 24, 25 of the panel 7, 26 of the window lift 8and 3c, 3d, 3a, 3b of the panel 2. Other screws pass through the holes23, 5 and 6 in order to fix the slide 11 to one edge of the inner panel2.

The fixing of the lock 12 to the inner panel 2 is similarly obtained byscrewing the latter onto the rear edge of the door 1.

In order to disassemble the trim panel 7 so as to enable servicing ofthe various internal elements 8, 11 . . . , to begin with only theconnections between the panel 7 and the elements 8, 11 are disassembled,and then the screw connecting the control 13 and the hole 4. The rod 15is then disconnected from the control handle 13 and the panel 7 iswithdrawn, leaving the elements 8, 11, 12 fixed to the inner door panel2, which enables the panel 7 to be removed.

It is therefore easier to carry out the servicing operations of themaintenance or replacement of the elements, and the structure of thedoor is simplified, which reduces its cost price relative to doorshaving an inner plate.

We claim:
 1. A door assembly including a door panel providing structuralintegrity for said assembly and defining an opening therein comprising:atrim panel; means for fastening said trim panel to said door panel; awindow lift and a window slide disposed on said trim panel for guiding awindow; a lock disposed on said trim panel; an inside opening controldisposed on said trim panel; a rod disposed on said trim panel foractuating said lock; said opening providing access to assemble said trimpanel having said window lift, lock, inside opening control and roddisposed therein, as a preassembled unit such that said opening issealed by said trim panel; and wherein said window lift is disposed onsaid trim panel by means of fasteners which engage said trim panel, saidwindow lift and said door panel.
 2. The invention of claim 1 whereinsaid lock is disposed on said trim panel by means of fasteners whichengage said trim panel, said lock and said door panel.
 3. The inventionof claim 1 wherein said slide is disposed on said trim panel by means offasteners which engage said trim panel, said slide and said door panel.4. The invention of claim 1 wherein said inside opening control isdisposed on said trim panel by means of fasteners which engage said trimpanel, said inside opening control and said door panel.
 5. The inventionof claim 1 wherein said lock, slide and inside opening control isdisposed on said trim panel by means of fasteners which engage said trimpanel, said lock and said door panel.
 6. A method for assembling avehicular door including a door panel having an opening and a trim panelfor covering said opening comprising the steps of:premounting an insideopening control, a window lift, a slide, and a lock to said trim panel;installing said trim panel in said opening of said door panel; andinstalling fasteners to affix said inside opening control, window lift,slide and lock to said trim panel and said door panel.